Politics
In common with most boroughs, early elections were officially non-political and were often uncontested. In 1906 a Labour Representation Committee was formed in East Ham, and it affiliated with the national Labour Party in 1908. In response, and in imitation of the highly successful London Municipal Reform Party, the local Conservative and Liberal organisations formed an anti-Labour Municipal Alliance.
The Alliance, which also embraced independent and ratepayer candidates, secured a large majority at the municipal elections of 1907, with Labour forming the opposition on the council.
In 1928 the elections produced a hung council, with Labour and the Municipal Alliance each having 20 members. In the following year a single gain saw Labour take control, which they were to retain for the remainder of the borough's existence. The defeated opposition group stood as "Anti-Labour" from the next elections in 1929 and were retitled as the Civic Party in 1933.
When local elections were resumed after the Second World War, Labour faced official Conservative candidates for the first time. Conservatives formed a small opposition group, later supplanted by Independents. After the final municipal elections in 1963, Labour held 30 seats and Independents 10.
Read more about this topic: County Borough Of East Ham
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)
“All you can be sure about in a political-minded writer is that if his work should last you will have to skip the politics when you read it. Many of the so-called politically enlisted writers change their politics frequently.... Perhaps it can be respected as a form of the pursuit of happiness.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“Politics is repetition. It is not change. Change is something beyond what we call politics. Change is the essence politics is supposed to be the means to bring into being.”
—Kate Millett (b. 1934)